Industrial CAN bus cable with 120 ohm characteristic impedance. Shielded twisted pair, PUR or PVC sheath. CANopen, DeviceNet, automotive CAN. Multiple cross-sections 0.25–0.5mm².
The CAN bus physical layer (ISO 11898-2) specifies a 120-ohm differential bus line. This industrial CAN bus cable is constructed to meet this impedance requirement precisely — using a tightly controlled twist pitch and insulation geometry to maintain 120 Ω ±15 Ω across the full operating frequency range from DC to 1 Mbit/s. The result is a bus cable that installs without signal integrity compromises, even at the maximum specified data rate.
The cable is available in PVC sheath for fixed installation and PUR sheath for flexible applications including drag chains and mobile equipment wiring. Both variants use an individual pair foil screen plus an overall tinned copper braid — providing the dual-layer shielding required in electrically noisy industrial environments.
| Bus Speed | Max Bus Length | Recommended Cross-section |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Mbit/s | 25 m | 0.25 mm² |
| 500 kbit/s | 100 m | 0.34 mm² |
| 250 kbit/s | 250 m | 0.34 mm² |
| 125 kbit/s | 500 m | 0.5 mm² |
| 50 kbit/s | 1,000 m | 0.5 mm² |
| 10 kbit/s | 5,000 m | 0.5 mm² |
Larger cross-section reduces loop resistance — the dominant limitation for long, slow CAN buses. Use 0.5 mm² for buses longer than 100 m. For short, high-speed buses (under 25 m at 1 Mbit/s), 0.25 mm² provides adequate current-carrying capacity and reduces cable stiffness.
Every CAN bus must be terminated with exactly two 120-ohm resistors — one at each physical end of the bus. A cable with the correct 120-ohm characteristic impedance ensures the termination resistors are correctly matched, eliminating reflections that cause frame errors.
CAN shields should be terminated at one end only (star point) in most installations — to avoid ground loop currents that introduce common-mode noise. The drain wire on each pair enables clean single-point shield termination at the CAN distribution cabinet.
